


It's bad luck to kill the Mollymauk

by LadySpearWife



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Canon Era, Canonical Character Death, Character Study, Death, Friendship, Gen, Non-Linear Narrative, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-12 01:12:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17457755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadySpearWife/pseuds/LadySpearWife
Summary: His life is a mistake, a cruel twist of fate. Molly is glad to take this mistake and make it his. He's less glad to see it end.Or, alternatively, ten things about the life and death of Mollymauk Tealeaf.





	It's bad luck to kill the Mollymauk

**Author's Note:**

> i have just watched molly's death and everything about it made me hella sad. then i wrote things because i had to. please feel free to be sad about molly with me. im so late to the party tho.  
> (btw im in denial he's totally alive i dont want a new taliesin character)

I.

(Side note about dying:

It sucks.)

II.

A study on Mollymauk Tealeaf, part 1:

A Tiefling can’t mingle with the crowd no matter what. Hiding is tiring when there’s nothing you can do about it. Thus, Mollymauk Tealeaf doesn’t hide, refuses to hide. He picks his jewels, his tattoos and his clothes and transforms lavender scarred skin and sanguine eyes in a masterpiece of arrogance and gaudiness. He twists the stares, the sneers and the whispers into his show. Not a goddamn soul in the world will stop him from living – _living_ , not surviving. Mollymauk Tealeaf isn’t here to just survive.

III.

“Did y’know it’s bad luck to kill a mollymawk?” Fjord slurs, drunk and with half of his face buried in the pillow, “does it mean it’s bad luck to kill you too?”

Molly has to turn his head to look at him and _laugh_ , “I’d be a terrifying ghost.”

“Wouldn’t let you die,” he says too slowly, his accent a bit different somehow.

Humming, Molly closes his eyes for a moment. The bitter taste of cheap alcohol is still in his mouth. He doesn’t think he can die again. For just this one night, insane because of the drinks and feeling pleasantly sleepy, he’s immortal, a twice born asshole who can’t be killed. It’s, of course, an amazing sensation, and he’s ready for more.

“My own shining knight.” Molly grins at Fjord’s groan. “Jester is jealous now.”

IV.

A study on Mollymauk Tealeaf, part 2:

Bloodied scimitars on his hands. One kill on his shoulders. The biting cold of a spell seeping into his bones. Missing friends and a nagging fear on his tongue. A stupid plan that will get them all killed. Keg, Beau, Caleb, Nott. The pain of his own blood maledict. Fear in his veins as everything begins to fail miserably. The scrape of a blade against his skin, a last attempt. A man towering above him. He hasn’t learned a goddamn lesson in his life, and no slaver will make a lesson out of him. Respect. Blood in his mouth; he spits it. _Respect_. Eyes as red as blood that never close. R e s p e c t. Yasha, Jester and Fjord still locked in those cages. **RESPECT**. A last furious, defiant thought.

(Not in that order, though.)

V.

He’s not, after all, immortal. Molly hopes Fjord was right. Molly hopes Lorenzo and all the Iron Shepherds die because of him. Molly hopes he’s an ill omen. Molly hopes no one dares to take his own death from him. He picked his fate, thank you very much.

VI.

(Side note about living on borrowed time:

It sucks.)

VII.

Molly walks into the tavern knowing all the eyes are on him, flashy Tiefling who’s offering a strange and possibly dangerous opportunity for fun. Small cities are all the same: unveiled hatred towards him, demon that he is, and unveiled need for adventures. Anyways, he puts the fliers on the hands of these bored and boring people, Yasha trailing after him like a reliable second shadow, and grins broadly, speaking loud and clear about this circus, his circus. It’s a welcome routine by now, truth be told.

When he notices the strange group – positively too weird and too restless for a miserable city like this tiny and bland Trostenwald –, Molly knows this is a chance he can’t miss. He’s never seen a crowd in such desperate need of some fun. He makes his gaudy way towards them, grin as sharp as a knife and aware he’s an unsettling sight at worst. Yasha, terrifying and quiet like only she can be, follows, ready to jump in if anything goes wrong. Molly tries to outshine her presence and sell the show. In coat, jewels, boots and flair, he knows he can convince at least one of them to go.

“Well,” Molly begins brashly, knowing he’s part of the show right now, “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a group of people more in need of a good time in my entire life.”

The realization doesn’t hit at the time, but these words will change everything.

VIII.

A list of things that will never be done – a study in Mollymauk Tealeaf, part 3:

Mess with Fjord using Summer’s Dance.

Find a way to check how the people from the circus are doing.

Find more beautiful and colorful flowers for Yasha.

**_~~SAVE HIS FRIENDS FROM SLAVERS.~~ _ **

**_~~KILL LORENZO AND ALL THE IRON SHEPHERDS.~~ _ **

See the ocean for the first time – everyone says it’s beautiful.

IX.

Gustav smiles to him, all happy and sincere and reckless. For once, even Desmond seems cheerful enough. It feels like a night to celebrate. Well, fuck it, Molly knows it’s a night to celebrate: for the first time in what Bo tells him it’s literal years, the circus has made ridiculous amounts of money. Everyone is giggly and excited, passing a bottle of cheap booze around, little Toya properly sent to bed. He can feel the thrill of it running beneath his skin like fire. The alcohol helps, if he has to be honest.

“Let’s drink more!” Yuli – Molly is almost sure it’s Yuli, he’s still not that good at telling Mona and she apart – roars, delightfully dazed and leaning on her twin.

Ornna claps, throwing her head back, laughing and making a show of tossing the booze to Bo. In the half-light of the few weak candles they have and in the smoky tent, Molly can feel the sound echoing in his bones. Gustav begins to look around for another bottle. They’re drinking too much and will have to buy more soon, but it doesn’t matter, because there’s money for it now. They have money for a lot of things now. It’s the best and most powerful and maddest he has ever felt. Yasha’s absence doesn’t sting too much.

Well, Molly does wake up with a terrible hungover. It’s definitively worth it.

X.

(Side note about Mollymauk Tealeaf:

 _Well, fuck you too_.)


End file.
